Improvement in looms for weaving hair-cloth



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

ISAAC ANGELL, OF PAIVTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE PAIVTUCKET HAIR CLOTH COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN LOOMS FOR WEAVINGl HAIR-CLOTH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 30,652, dated November 13, 1860.

T0 all whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC ANGELL, of Pawtucket, in the county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Power Looms for lVeavin g Hair-Cloth; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a side View of a loom with my improvements, having part of the harnesstreadles and that part of the frame which supports the harness-cam shaft cut away to expose the parts to which my invention more immediately relates. Fig. 2 is a front View of the loom with the front portion of the framing removed. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken right through the loom parallel with the warp. Fig. 4 is a plan of the same with the top of the framing, the upper parts of the treadles, and the top rail of the lay cut away to expose the parts below.

Similar letters and numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

The object of my invention is to prevent as far as practicable the loss of time which occurs in the operation of power-looms for weaving hai r-cloth when the attendant whose duty it is to serve the hair ,to the contrivance which places it in the shed fails to serve it at the proper time or in case of any failure of the operation of the said contrivance.

Hair-cloth is commonly woven with five sheds, which are opened in regular succession, and in operating a loom of the usual construction it is necessary in case of any such failure as I have above mentioned when any one of the sheds is open to wait till the same shed is again opened before again attempting to serve, or the cloth will be made uneven, and thus the time occupied by opening and closing of the whole number of sheds is lost. A stop-motion has been used for the purpose of stopping the harness motion of the loom instantly whenever the hair is from any cause not placed in the shed that is opened to receive it; but this is liable to some serious objections.

My invention consists in the use of automatic mechanism which so controls the operation of the harness motion that the opening of the same shed is repeated during the following movement of the lay whenever a shed fails to have the hair placed within it, and such repetition is continued with each beat of thelay till the shed receives the hail', when the operation of the harness proceeds as if no interruption had taken place.

To enable others skilled in the art to'make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the framing of the loom. B is the crank-shaft driving` the lay L by the usual crank connections C C, and gearing with a parallel shaft D by spur-gears E F, so proportioned that the shaft D makes one revolution for every two of B. This shaft D carries the two cams G G', which operate the two treadles H H', by whose movements the operation of the rock-staff I, which works the filling-hook J, is produced, the said treadles both connecting with the said rock-staff by cords a a', the latter of `which passes over a guide-pulley b', attached to the lay, and the former over asimilarly arranged pulley l) and under a pulley o, attached to the floor or to the loom-framing. The said shaft D also carries a bevel-gear K, which gears with two bevel-gears M M on the harness cam-shaft O, which is arranged horizontally at right angles to the shaft I) and which carries the five cams P P2 P3 P4 P5 for operating the ve treadles Q Q2 Q4 Q5, which work the ve principal leaves of heddles. This shaft O carries a spur-gear W', which gears with aspur-gearR on the shaft S, which carries the two cams N N for operating the two treadles T T2, which work the selvage-heddles. The gearing is all so proportioned that one of the treadles Q Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 and one of those T T2 are acted upon by their respective cams during each complete ino vementof the lay back and forth. All the above mentioned parts are constructed and applied in substantially the same manner as in other well-known hair-cloth looms, except that in those looms the bevelgear K gears with a single bevel-gear that is fast on the cam-shaft O instead of with two bevel-gears M M', which are iitted to turn loosely on the said shaft. I will now proceed to describe what I call the repeat motion.

The two bevel-gearsM M have arranged between them upon the shaft O the double clutch U, which is fitted to slide longitudinally upon the said sl1aft,but prevented turning thereon by a feather or its equivalent, and this clutch has a groove turned in it to receive the prongs of the lower fork of a double forked upright lever V, which is arranged to swing in a backward vand forward direction and also to move toward and from the side of the main framing of the loom on a fulcrumpin d, secured to the side of the main framing. By a short movement of this lever upon its fulcrum-pin d in a backward and forward direction, or parallel with the side of the loom,

the clutch can be brought out of gear with either bevel-gear M or M and into gear with the other, thereby uncouplin g one of said gears from and coupling the other one with the shaft O, and causing the said shaft to derive from the shaft D a rotary motion in one or the other direction, according to which of the bevel-gears M M is coupled with it, the said bevel-gears being both always in gear with the bevel-gear K and deriving motion therefrom in opposite directions, the direction of the rotation of the gear M being the proper one for theoperation of the harness. The upper fork of the lever V has its two prongs e e standing upon opposite sides of the crankshaft B, with their ends turned toward the shaft; but the ends of the prongs are not exactly opposite each other, and the said shaft B has fast upon it a cam X, which, during each revolution of the crank-shaft, acts upon one or other of the prongs e e', according as the leverVis farther from or nearer to the side framing of the loom. While the weaving operation proceeds in a proper manner, the back prong e is kept opposite to the cam X by the action of a coiled spring q, which is applied round the fulcrum-pin d between the lever and the framing and which holds the said lever out against a stop-pin f or shoulder projecting from the fulcruln-pin, and the cam acting upon the said prong e in every revolution only tends to press or hold back the upper end of the lever, and so press forward the lower end and bring or keep the clutch in gear with the bevel-gear M, and keep that gear coupled with the shaft O. The lever V is connected above its fulcrumpin with the rear end of a lever Y, which works horizontally upon a fixed fulcrum-pin g, secured to the side of the main framing, andthe front end of this lever which is situated at the side of the lay is bent in the manner shown in Fig. 4 to present an oblique face h toward the side of the lay.

To the interior of the top framing on that sideo'f the loom on which the cam O and levers V and .Y are arranged, there is secured a bracket Z, which supports the fulcrum r of a lever j, which resembles in its general character the forked lever of the filling stop-motion used in power-looms for plain weaving, said lever being arranged to work vertically and having at its front end two prongs 0l e' to operate in combination withithree teeth k la k, (resembling the grid of the aforesaid filling stop -motion,) which are rigidly .attached to the lay L near the side of the loom, said teeth being arranged to pass between and outside of the prongs t' t' of the `lever j during the movement of the lay while the latter is near its most backward position. The lever j must be so light and so well balanced that the hair as it isn being drawn into the loom by the filling-hook .l or other contrivance,whichforms a substitute for a shuttle, will by its interposition between the prongs t' t' and the teeth 7e k lo in front. of the latter lpress forward thefs'aid prongs, and so cause the front end of-fth'e lever tobe lifted up till the ends of thesaid prongs pass over it. At'the same side ofthe loom there is secured to the framing the fulcrum Z of a lever m n, one arm m of which is situated behind the ,lay and the other arm n at the side of the lay, the arm 'n being of such length that it projects some distance in front of the laysword when the lay is in its most forward position and the arm fm being of such length and so formed with a projection 6 on one side and so arranged that the projection 6 may be capable of resting against the rear end of the lever j, when th'e latter lever is not subject to any pressure on its prongs t' t', but has its rear portion kept in contact with a stop s (see Fig. 3l in the bracket Z by the superior weight of the pronged end. The extremity of the arm n is connected with the lower part of the framing by a spring p, which tends to draw it downward and pull forward the arm m. The lower edge ofthe arm nis made with an inclined offset 7, (see Fig. 3,) to be acted upon by a stud or projection t on the outer side of the sword of the lay as the lay swings back for the purpose of raising the said arm and throwing back the arm m.

To the front part of the sword of the lay there is secured the fulcrum-pi-n u, on which works a lever c, which is arranged transversely to the levers m n, one arm of the said lever t; projecting outwardly over or through the side framing of the loom toward the lever Y and below the arm n of the lever ma, and being always held up toward the said arm n by the superior weight of the other arm of the said lever c, which is toward the center of the loom.

The operation of the loom with the repeat motion is as follows: As the lay moves back the stud t on its side, by its action on the offset 7 on thearm n of the lever m n, raises the said arln and causes, the other arm m to be thrown back some distance behind the rear end of the leverj, and as the advance of the lay, commences, accompanied by the movement of the lling-hook J to the right or in a direction to draw the hair into the open shed of the warp, the hair that is caught by the said hook presenting itself between the prongs c' z' of the lever j and the teeth k la k in the lay, in front of the former and behind the latteris pressed forward against the said prongs, and thereby caused to raise the front end of the lever j and so depress. its rear end so low that it will be passed over by the projection 6 on the arm m of the lever m n as the said arm is permitted by the passage of the stud t on the lay from under the offset 7 to be drawn forward by the action of the spring p on the arm n, which, being drawn down by the said spring upon the lever t', depresses the outer end of the said lever to a position below the lever Y,which remains undisturbed, and allows the lever V to be held out so far from the side of the loom by the spring q on its fulcrum-pin that the back prong e of the upper fork of the said lever will be opposite to the cam X and the front prong e out of its way, and the said cam will only act upon the said lever to keep the clutch U in gear with the bevel-gear M and that gear coupled with the cam-shaft O, which, so long as a hair is taken bythe filling-hook at the opening of every shed, continues to rotate in the direction to produce the uninterrupted operation of the harness, as indicated by the arrow shown on the gear IV in Fig. 2; but on the failure of the hook J to draw a hair into the warp the lever 7' will remain stationary in the condition represented in Fig. 3 during the whole l forward movement of the lay, and when the pint on the lay permits the arm m of the lever m n to move forward, the said arm is stopped by its projection 6 coming in contact with the rear end of the lever j, and the arm n is thereby prevented descending far enough to depress the lever v below the lever Y, and the outer end of the said lever fu is caused by the continued forward movement of the lay to pass along the oblique face I-I of the said lever Y, and thereby to force the front end of the latter lever outward from the side framing of the loom, and hence to cause its rear end to move in the opposite direction and carry the lever V along with it far enough to bring the front prong e of the said lever opposite to the cam X, which immediately afterward comes into action on the said prong, and so moves forward the upper end of the said lever and causes the lower end thereof to move backward and carry the clutch U out of gear with the bevelgear M and ito gear with the bevel-gear M which, being then coupled with the shaft O, moves the latter in the opposite direction to that in which it moved before the clutch was shifted. As the lay goes back again, the lever fu, retiring from contact with the lever Y, allows the spring q on the fulcrum d of the lever V to move the said lever outward, so that the back prong e. of its upper fork will again come opposite to the cam X and be operated upon thereby to cause the clutch U to be thrown out of gear with the bevel-gear M and again into gear with the bevel-gear M, when the revolution of the shaft O in the proper direction to operate the harness will be resumed, and if the hook J catches a hair the next time it retires across the lay the operation of the cam-shaft in the proper direction proceeds without interruption with only the loss of the time occupied by one movement of the lay back and forth; but if the hook J fails again the lever Y will be again acted upon, the clutch again shifted to the gearM and the movement of the cam-shaft O again reversed. The reverse movement of the cam-shaft O is never more than is due to one-half of the revolution of the crank-shaft, and consequently is sufficient to entirelyclose the shed, but not to open another one, and as during the succeeding half-revolution of the crank-shaft the cam-shaft is moved back again the cams are always in the proper position at the proper time to reopen wide the shed previously closed. As long as the hair fails to be caught by the hook J, the camshaft keeps oscillating back and forth to the extent of a tenth part of the revolution during each revolution of the crank-shaft, instead of rotating continuously to the extent of a fifth part of a revolution during each revolution of the crank-shaft, as it does so long as a hair is deposited in each shed, that extent of revolution being rendered necessary by the number of cams employed on the shaft O and provided for by the gearing, as before explained, and an oscillating movement equal to half that extent of revolution being required to preserve the proper relation of the camshaft to the crank-shaft. To insure the proper position of the cams relatively to the movement of the lay at the proper time for the shed to be opened, being maintained during this coupling and uncoupling of the bevelgears with and from the shaft, theclutches are each made with a number of teeth equal to the number of revolutions required of the crank-shaft for one revolution of the calnshaft-viz., five.

I have throughout this specification spoken of the use of hair as the lling for the fabric; but I will now state that my invention is applicable to looms for weaving with a filling or weft of any other material which is used in short lengths in a manner similar to the use of hair in weaving hair-cloth.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The reopening of the shed after the failure of the hook to take a hair without stopping or disconnecting the heddles from their source of motion,in the manner substantially as herein shown and described.

ISAAC ANGELL. lVitnesses:

XV. W. BLODGETT, H. J. LoTHRoP, Jr. 

